Foreign students paid to ‘crop sit’ as part of Victoria’s illegal cannabis trade

ORGANISED crime gangs are paying foreign students to “crop sit” huge indoor cannabis farms, with at least 22 such students or ex-students facing court last year, caught up in Victoria’s $8 billion illegal cannabis trade.

At least 22 such students and ex-students faced court last year in connection with a total of ­almost 2000kg of cannabis. Picture: AAP

ORGANISED crime gangs are paying foreign students to mind huge indoor crops ­supplying Victoria’s $8 billion illegal cannabis trade.

The Herald Sun has learned that large number of visitors on study visas — most of them from Vietnam — are being put to work “crop-sitting”.

At least 22 such students and ex-students faced court last year in connection with a total of ­almost 2000kg of cannabis. ­Another 20 faced court in 2016, over more than 1100kg.

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A 'hydro house' operation.

Many more will have been charged over amounts less than the 25kg “commercial quantity”.

Court records indicate almost all sitters were paid a relative pittance to mind crops and so insulate organisers from arrest. One said he had been paid $500 a week.

Organisers set up the operations — property, plants, and hydroponic gear — and leave it to the sitters to ensure occupancy and tend the crop.

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Visa-holders have been arrested “crop-sitting” in homes across Melbourne and in rural Victoria, including at Ballarat, St Arnaud, Traralgon and Yarram. The study visas of some had lapsed years before.

Judge Jane Patrick, jailing crop-sitter Hoang Viet Dang for 12 months in 2016, noted he was one of a “great number” of young men from Vietnam who after experiencing money trouble had become involved in the illegal cannabis industry.

Police remove more than 100 cannabis plants in a drug bust in Melbourne’s north. Picture: Victoria Police

Dang, who was on a student visa, was caught minding a 110kg cannabis crop in Mt Waverley. “I have sentenced many people such as yourself,” the County Court judge said.

Another judge, jailing a crop-sitter lured by a promise of quick money, said she had been preyed upon by criminals seeking vulnerable students.

Growing cannabis in houses has become an important part of organised crime in Victoria over the past decade.

The indoor setups can yield three or four high-potency crops a year, compared with just one crop a year that can be grown outdoors.

Just one crop-house can yield annual earnings of up to $1 million, and some in the illegal cannabis industry own many such properties.

In running the hydroponic crop-houses, the gangs steal electricity worth more than $50 million a year.

The makeshift electrical wiring they use has caused dozens of fires, and millions of dollars worth of destruction has been caused to rental properties in Victoria.

Police intelligence suggests profits are sometimes invested in other kinds of organised crime, such as drug smuggling.